By Nancy  Hastings                                                       Thursday  September 26,  2002
Daily News Staff Writer

   A petition drive to reinstate a shooting range located in the Lost Nation game management area has gained support from the Natural Resources Commission (NRC)

    Founders of the Michigan Coalition for Return to Constitutional Government (MCRCG) Roger Keller and Ed Dane, went to Lansing Sept. 12 to present  to the NRC more than 2,000 signatures in support of their effort to have the Michigan DNR reinstate the shooting range on Way Road.

   The NRC hold  meetings in Lansing on a regular basis and the MCRCG had
asked to be placed on the agenda to be able to speak on the  subject  of reinstating the shooting range.

   Both Keller and Dane said they were proud of all the members who put  their time
and effort in the collection of 2435 signatures.

   Mr. Dane, speaking for the MCRCG, addressed the long term safety record and
presented the chair, Keith Charters, of the seven member commission, with  copies
of the signed petitions in favor of the reopening.

    The  consensus of the commission was that they did not  want to lose any more
shooting ranges in the state of Michigan, Dane said.

  Becky Humphries, Chief of the Wildlife Division, was the  most encouraging,   he added. After listening to the MCRCG  presentation, she assured  Keller that the commission would act on the problem right away.  She said that there had been some misunderstanding;  the range was not supposed to be closed.   In fact,  she added, "although  the benches have been removed, the range was still open to the public.

     Since the meeting , David Dominic, Wild life Supervisor for the South-central Management Unit of the DNR, has contacted the MCRCG and said that he has met with his staff and soon they should have some figures on the cost of what they would like to do.

 According to Dominic, a "considerable amount" of dirt would have to be moved in order to make a suitable backstop and a level plane added to bring the range into acceptable safety standards.

  Dane said Dominic promised that his staff would be in touch.

   Because the amount of  dirt needed to improve the backstop concerns Dominic, the
MCRCG suggested to his staff that he contact Stan Clingerman of the Hillsdale
County Road Commission about using the extra fill from the Rumsey Road paving
project just around the corner for the improvement to the shooting range.  "One
public improvement could aid another public facility," Dane said.  "Mr. Dominic has directed his staff to get as much fill as they could."

     Dane added If any one who knows of a contractor in the area looking for a place to dispose of fill dirt, or anyone else who might be willing to donate some clean fill for that range, they should get in touch with Dominic from the DNR at 517-625-4600 to make arrangements to dump the dirt.

   "It would be a good thing for our community," Keller said.   Within the next several weeks, or as soon as Mr. Dominic gets the information he needs, he will meet with us " Dane and Keller"  on the site to discuss further plans.

   "We still have the problem of trash at the range and both Mr. Dane and myself
have spent time at the range raking and cleaning up the trash and paying for its
disposal out of our own pockets," Keller said.

   MCRCG asks anyone who enjoys the range and has used the range  to "please take
home with them everything they brought; and if they can, pick up after those who
are less considerate.  Unless we all help in this effort we will lose this shooting range," Keller said.

   Dane said, "Anyone who hunts or just likes to shoot should be concerned about
keeping this range open. If someone out there would like to leave their name and
phone number for future work details in policing up the area, they can do that on
our web site at www.mcrcg.org or just send us an e-mail."

   Keller added, "We are always looking for new members. An application
for membership can be found on our website.  A free booklet goes along with every
membership; you have a choice of two.  The booklet alone is worth the $10 annual
dues."

   Keller and Dane both agree that since everything cost so much these days they
would like to increase the membership in order to continue working on their goals.